


Adopted

by LadyCharity



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluffy Angst, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Norse Bro Feels, Tony Snark, he's adopted, mostly fluffy, thor tries to be a good brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-06
Updated: 2012-11-06
Packaged: 2017-11-18 03:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyCharity/pseuds/LadyCharity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Tony finds Thor with a heavy guilty conscience for blurting out to everyone on the helicarrier that Loki was adopted, and Tony is of no practical help at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adopted

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Deutsch available: [Adoptiert](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1132275) by [eurydike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eurydike/pseuds/eurydike)



> It started off being angsty, but then it was Tony narrating this thing so it kind of took a different turn. This was my first attempt to ever write Tony a couple months ago, and I've got to say, I've loved writing for him ever since. 
> 
> Mostly in response to this GIF set on Tumblr: tomhiddles. tumblr. com /post/30287940775

God, Tony needed a drink. Not just any drink—an entire brewery if necessary. It wasn’t like he was unused to dealing with difficult people (he prided himself in being a member of said difficult people, especially when Pepper had a say) but if he had to face Steve shaking his head sadly at Tony as if he disappointed him for something Tony wasn’t even aiming to achieve or have Fury’s one eye glaring at him because God knows what then he was very close in jumping right off the helicarrier.

With the suit, of course. He wasn’t suicidal, for Pete’s sake.

So when Tony found a quaint, quiet little corner in the security room only to realize that someone had already inhabited it, to say he was mildly disappointed was pushing his polite euphemisms to a breaking point. At least it was only Thor, whom Tony didn’t have as much of a problem with even though the man did throw him through several trees if not several mountain formations not too long ago. Still, one plus one equaled two and Tony would rather consume his bourbon in solitary peace, so he was about to leave when he realized that Thor was staring intently at the security cameras.

“Hey, Point Break,” said Tony. “What is that doing to you, hypnotizing you?”

Granted, it was probably the first time Thor ever saw a television screen of any sort in his ridiculously long life, but didn’t the novelty of it wear off? They were only security cameras after all. Unless he found the video to Agent Hill’s private quarters. Or maybe he can see Fury’s eye patch collection; only then would that warrant a good reason to stare at the screens like a nonplussed goldfish.

When Thor didn’t answer readily, Tony took several steps toward Thor and peered over his shoulders (those massive boulders of a shoulder—couldn’t he crouch down a little at least?) to see what he was so interested in. It was only a video of the glass cage holding Loki, who was pacing endlessly across the small space, stopping every now and then in inscrutable thought. For half a second Tony was convinced Thor really was hypnotized to stare at something so uninteresting.

“Are you really that bored or something?” said Tony. “Nothing to smash with that hammer of yours?”

Thor sighed, and Tony felt a groan itch his throat. No, Thor didn’t look bored. He looked downright crestfallen, like a teddy bear whose owner left him. Tony was not authorized to deal with this. Where was Pepper when he needed her?

“Do you ever wish you could take back words you said?” Thor said.

“No,” Tony said as if rehearsed. “If I say something and it offends someone, then let them deal with it.” He tried to think if anyone on the carrier was angry at Thor for whatever reason (besides himself, he still had a small dent on the back of his suit because of Shakespeare in the park). “What, you think you offended someone?”

Thor nodded like a child found guilty of pulling a girl’s pigtails at elementary school. Tony rolled his eyes.

“Consider yourself lucky then, because there are a lot worse things you could do to a person than offend them with whatever you said,” said Tony. “Who’s mad at you? I’m surprised they even have the guts to do it, considering you could pummel them into pudding if they tried anything.”

“I—” Thor stopped before sighing. “It isn’t as such. He does not know I said it but it still remains.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” said Tony. “Not exactly. Look, it happens all the time. You say something. It may or may not have been a nice thing, but the world’s got to deal with it. You can’t be walking on your toes around egg shells all the time or your feet will start cramping. That’s no better.”

“I am speaking of offense, not of egg shells,” Thor said. “I speak of Loki.”

Tony nearly had a double-take. “Wait, Loki? You think you offended Loki? He was the one telling people they were beneath him and you think he’s insulted?”

“A guilty party does not exclude them from being hurt,” said Thor. He tore his eyes away from the screen when Loki sat himself upon the provided bench. “When I told everyone that he was adopted…I shouldn’t have spoken like that.”

“Well, he kind of is, isn’t he?” said Tony. That bourbon was calling his name a lot louder now. “I mean, it’s not like it was anything no one can understand. Yeah, we get it. He did really bad stuff, you don’t want to associate yourself with him that much, and the fact that he’s adopted sort of helps—”

“How can you say that?” said Thor, aghast. “How is that all right to you? I spoke as if I disowned him. Exiled my own brother by saying he was borne by another family, saying he’s less of a family to me because of that. And you think that is all right?”

“Hey,” Tony said, raising his hands when Thor’s anger started surging. “Don’t yell at me, all right? I thought we got our tussle out of the way already. Look—” He let his hands fall to his sides. “I mean, I guess symbolism is pretty important to you ancient type, but Loki doesn’t even know you said any of that. So…it isn’t like he was insulted by that.” Personally, Tony found it surprising if not somewhat admirable that Thor was even worrying about the self-esteem of the criminal that might kill them all should he have the chance, brother or not.

“Even words unheard can’t be taken back,” said Thor. He ran a hand through his blond mane, looking more tired than before. “Please understand, Man of Iron. I am not trying to distance myself from Loki and using his…his adoption as an excuse. I do not want to. He is dear to me, as dear as he was before. I won’t let differences of blood be the sole knife that tears us apart.”

“You could be proposing to him tomorrow and I don’t think I’ll care any differently,” Tony said. “But isn’t this the guy that tried to kill you? Coulson said something about that. You still think he’s your ‘dear little brother’ even after that? You still want that?”

Thor raised his sharp blue gaze to Tony accusingly. “Should your family cause you such pain once, would you so readily throw them away?”

Tony felt a twinge of annoyance in him. He wasn’t ignorant; by God, he was far from being ignorant of family members wronging him. The only difference was at least he knew his limit; he knew when he had enough whereas Thor was the type of person that would still give Loki a ‘World’s Best Bro’ T-shirt after said little brother threw him into a pit of hungry God-eating sharks.

“I’m not saying you should renounce him,” Tony said, crossing his arms. “And honestly, you didn’t. You said he was adopted. He isn’t the same kind of flesh and bone as you, and he probably didn’t inherit whatever batshit insane gene from your old man and mother. Cool story. That’s all.”

But Thor shook his head sadly and turned back to face the screen again. Loki was leaning his head against the glass; whether dozing off or deep in thought, Tony couldn’t tell. It would have made him look a bit more normal, if not saner, if he wasn’t bedecked with armor and leather like a Transformer.

“When I heard he killed so many people in such a small amount of time,” said Thor, “I was suddenly afraid that—that you all would believe me to be just as willing to do that. Or my father, or mother. I wanted an excuse, as if to shove the blame of his—his behavior elsewhere from my home. That you would not think me the same. As if I was protecting my family.” He swallowed hard and sat himself on the wheeled chair, never taking his eyes off of Loki. “But Loki is my family, and we raised him since birth. Everything he ever learned is from us, everything about him is us. And,” he said with a sad laugh. “I too am no stranger to kill many. I killed a vast number of Frost Giants in only a day. I was only accused of warmongering, though. Never murder.”

He visibly sank lower in his seat, as if the weight of his guilt withered his bones to dust. Tony bit the inside of his cheek before sitting himself next to Thor. Granted, he knew nothing about Thor except whatever myths Tony could recall from high school English class (and the fact that he had a mean right swing), but he never expected Thor to have been so capable of killing. Tony wasn’t the type of person that assumed everyone he met was responsible of the death of many people, after all.

“If you really feel like it,” Tony said, spinning in lazy circles on the swivel chair, “I mean, I guess you can go down to the cage and—I don’t know—give Reindeer Games a nice big hug or something. I don’t know. What are you supposed to do when you think you offend someone who wasn’t even there to be offended? Bake them cookies? Whatever makes you feel better about yourself. Honestly, I don’t think he cares at this point, Doesn’t he already think you hate him?”

“You believe that an embrace would truly mend my ill decision?” said Thor, sitting up a little straighter in his chair.

“Whoa. No, I was kidding,” said Tony. “If you even open that door to the cage, hell’s going to break loose.”

But the damage was already done. Thor stood from his seat, his face glowing with some sort of determination that Tony would have classified as insanity.

“Of course. An embrace is what true brothers, regardless of birth, share with one another,” said Thor. “I will show him that blood means nothing to me, and neither do his actions.”

“Thor. Buddy,” said Tony. “Please tell me that Asgard is fluent in sarcasm.”

“Thank you for your advice, Man of Iron!” said Thor, racing toward the door. “I will finally be able to help Loki, thanks to your wisdom.”

Before Tony could squeeze in another word of wisdom, if not a fond farewell before Thor’s potential suicide, Thor had already dashed out of the room, slamming the door with an echoing clang behind him. Tony sat stone still in his chair, stunned.

“Tony Stark,” he said to himself. “I think you deserve a drink.”

He turned around and faced the screen of Loki’s security camera, waiting for the show.


End file.
